A Trade For Luke Schenn Would Help the Toronto Maple Leafs

The Toronto Maple Leafs are perpetually linked with all manner of trade targets. A recent name floating around is current Vancouver Canucks’ defenseman, Luke Schenn.

He plays a style that lends itself to playoff hockey coupled with a near league-minimum cap hit making him a great trade option.

Luke Schenn could add the grit, sandpaper and all-round physicality that has been missing on the blue-line since the departure of Zach Bogosian.

Not only that, he has Stanley Cup pedigree, having been on the winning squad with Tampa the past two seasons.

Former Toronto Maple Leafs’ Draft Pick Returning?

The Toronto Maple Leafs side he’d link up with certainly isn’t built like those he once played with. As a 5th overall pick by the Leafs in the 2008 NHL Entry Draft, a lot was expected, but in reality Schenn never quite lived up to the hype.

Laying almost an average of almost 4 hits per game, he would really boost the team’s physicality on the blue-line. Among Toronto Maple Leafs defensemen, Jake Muzzin leads this statline, with just over 2 hits per game – meaning Schenn would make a significant difference.

He’s not about to set the world on fire with his point contributions or anything like that, but he ticks the boxes as a physical player with solid defensive metrics.

Sandpaper and grit are terms thrown around as vital to a successful Stanley Cup run; Luke Schenn ticks those boxes too. Another option on our penalty kill wouldn’t go amiss either.

This isn’t to suggest that the current defensive cohort can’t get the job done, but adding Schenn to the current group at least gives them eight NHL-ready options.

The reality is that Schenn could bounce in and out of the line-up, much like Travis Dermott has done lately, likely fulfilling a third pairing role with penalty-killing thrown in.

Certainly, when looking at the other defensemen that the Toronto Maple Leafs have utilized this year, there might be a little more confidence in using Schenn in the playoffs than the likes of Alex Biega, Carl Dahlstrom or Kristians Rubins.

Assuming we might have to part with assets, especially given Schenn is on a two-year deal, maybe it is time to move Travis Dermott out. If that were the case, you might imagine a late-round pick or low-end prospect coming back our way too. After all, we’re talking swapping a 24 year-old for a 32 year-old here.

Obviously the push would be to minimize the loss of assets that have NHL experience while also limiting any draft capital we give up too.

Certainly it’s a balancing act that Kyle Dubas would have to manage. Perhaps the one thing to the advantage of the Toronto Maple Leafs is the fact Dubas has history trading with Jim Rutherford, who is now President of Hockey Operations in Vancouver.

It’s not the big-name move that Toronto Maple Leafs fans are probably craving, but Stanley Cup winners seldom seem to make those in recent years. It’s almost always smaller moves around the periphery that seem to put teams over the edge. Maybe Luke Schenn is that move.